Refund request
How do we decide a refund request from any channel against the fare and supplier rules and get the refund to the original payment method on the clock?
Make the refund a rule with a clock. When a refund is requested (on the app, a call, an email, a form, an AI assistant), Callvu classifies the request against the booking (the component, the fare's refund rule, the supplier's terms, whether the carrier cancelled or changed the flight, whether the travel was used, the payment method and who was paid), computes the refund due under the rules (the DOT automatic refund, the refundable fare's value less the fee, the supplier's refund, nothing with the credit option where the rules allow), decides an in-rule refund by rule, routes a request outside the rules (a goodwill ask, a disputed cause, a partial use) to the agent in the Decision Desk with the rules in view, issues the refund to the original payment method on the clock the rules set, and writes the request, the decision, the amount and the payment to the booking system.
In scopeSimpleCallvu moves: classify, decide, write back
Last updated November 7, 2026.
The problem today
The refund the customer was owed by law waited in the same queue as the ones they were not, and both took six weeks.
Refund requests arrive in every channel and are worked by hand in the order they arrive: the agent opens the booking, reads the fare rules, decides, and sends the refund to a finance queue. The customer entitled to an automatic refund under the DOT rules waits as long as the one asking for goodwill on a non-refundable fare; the one who paid with a card gets a credit; the refund goes to a different card because the agent typed it.
A refund is a classification against the rules: the fare rules and the supplier terms say what is refundable and at what fee; the DOT rules say when a refund is due regardless of the fare and how fast; the payment record says where it must go. Most requests resolve by rule, and the ones that do not have a specific reason a person should see. The clock is the law's where it applies, and the agency's otherwise.
A refund decided by rule on the day it is requested is a complaint that never happens.
How it runs
From the requestto the system of record.
A customer requests a refund in any channel. Callvu identifies the booking and opens the request.
- Customer
- Requests, gives the reason and any document, and receives the decision and the refund.
- Agent
- Decides requests outside the rules in the Decision Desk.
- Finance
- Sees the refunds issued and the supplier recoveries.
- Callvu
- Classifies, computes, decides by rule, routes, issues and writes back.
Classify the request
The booking and its components are read with the fare's refund rule (refundable, non-refundable, refundable with a fee), the supplier's terms, the events on the booking (a carrier cancellation or significant change, a schedule change the customer refused, a voluntary cancellation, a no-show), the usage (unused, partly used), the payment method and who was paid (the carrier under a pass-through, the agency as merchant, a wholesaler), and the request's reason; the request is classified as an automatic refund under the DOT rules, a refund under the fare or the supplier terms, a credit-only case, a goodwill request, or a request to another party.
Compute and decide by rule
The refund due is computed (the full fare and the taxes and fees for a DOT refund, the refundable value less the fee for a fare refund, the supplier's refund under its terms, the unused taxes on a non-refundable fare where they are refundable), with the credit alternative shown only where the rules allow the customer to choose it; a request inside the rules is decided by rule and the customer told the amount and the clock.
Chase and verify, and route exceptions
A reason or a document that changes the outcome (a bereavement waiver, a medical reason under the supplier's policy, proof the carrier cancelled) is chased from the customer through a link and read; a goodwill request, a disputed cause, a partial use, a refund to a party other than the payer, or a supplier that disputes goes to the agent in the Decision Desk with the rules and the computation and only the allowed outcomes (refund as computed, refund a different amount with the reason, offer a credit, or decline with the reason and the complaint rights).
Issue and write back
The refund is issued to the original payment method through the party that was paid (the carrier's refund transaction, the agency's merchant refund, a claim on the supplier through the recovery process) on the rules' clock, the request, the classification, the decision, the amount and the payment are written to the booking system, and the customer receives the confirmation with the expected posting.
Where it ends: Every refund request was classified against the rules on the day it arrived, computed and decided by rule where it fit, decided by a person where it did not, and paid to the original method on the clock, with the booking system holding the whole record. The Decision Trace shows the classification, the computation and any decision; the Audit Trace shows the request, the issue and the write with time.
Runtime enforcement
What is enforcedwhile the work runs.
The regulations preloaded in Callvu Studio and the bank's own policies, applied as steps that run, not lines in a binder. A step that breaks a rule does not run, so a completed run was compliant.
The handoff
Between the front doorand the back office.
The front door
Any channel, including an AI assistant; the customer provides documents on a secure screen.
The back office
The agent decides only exceptions; finance sees refunds and recoveries from the record.
The Decision Desk
- A goodwill request, a disputed cause, a partial use, a refund to a different party or a supplier dispute goes to the agent in the Decision Desk with the computation and only refund as computed, refund a different amount with the reason, offer a credit, or decline with the reason and the rights.
Proof
In scope.Proof at scale, not one process at a time.
The kind of process Callvu runs in production for customers in this industry. Ask for a reference on this exact process. The results below are the industry's published proof; each claim code links to its record on agents.callvu.com.
More than 1,000 processes are live across Callvu customers.
Across Callvu customers
Questions
What buyers ask next,answered plainly.
When is a refund due by law?
Under the DOT rules, when the airline cancels or significantly changes the flight and the passenger declines the alternative, for a bag not delivered in time and for services not provided, in money to the original method within seven business days for cards.
What about a non-refundable fare?
It is refundable only as the fare rules provide, often only the unused taxes; the process computes what is due and shows the credit alternative where the rules allow it.
Where does the refund go?
To the original payment method, through whoever was paid (the carrier, the agency or a supplier through the recovery process), with the expected posting told to the customer.
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